Gabriel makes tea and jerky

The young male looked at the neatly carved, nearly fat-less meat from the elk he had taken down. It was almost heartbreaking the effort he had gone through to take the animal down, only to find that what he had hoped was a fatty, rich meat, was so lean as to be nearly without flavor. The only upside was that he could smoke this, and make up for the lack of taste with spices, of which he had begun to make from natural plants around him.

It had taken some experimenting to find plants that improved the taste, and didn't make it worse. His smoking rack was set over the lower fire, enclosed in a ratty hide that he had been using for some time, to trap the smoke and dry the meat. The scent of the smoking meat was far better than the smell that had come from the pieces he tried to cook as a meal.

He turned his attention to the real prize. A large copper bowl, one that he had found half buried in sand near the stream where he typically went for water. It was old, in poor shape, but held water. Inside the bowl was water, now gently steaming, with a few choice plants floating in it. He breathed in the sharp odor of the steam, reveling in the mint, a treat for sure, that he had been saving for just such an occasion.

He gently stirred the tea, making sure the plants properly diffused their flavor into the water. He even had some honey, painstakingly gathered. Emphasis on the Pain.

Dremulf

(Please excuse her manners, or there lack of. She's a hungry girl.)

The female's body hugged close to the ground as she crawled slowly towards the wonderful scent of meat. Her stomach had been devoid of anything for a while now, and she needed to eat. With larger prey being hard to take down, and her luck at small game being minimal as of late, Woodsmoke couldn't stand another night with an empty stomach. From the underbrush she watched the man cook his meal on an open fire. In her mind, it was easier to just eat things raw; no hassle with fire or anything like that. She knew not how to conjure flame anyways. Silently she watched him set up everything, perplexed by his need to add plants to the mix of red meat, and as to why he was wrapping it in animal skins was beyond her. After she was convinced that his attention would be elsewhere, the girl moved closer.

Using both what her mother had taught her, as well as what she picked up on her own, Woodsmoke stealthily moved closer to the other male. She had made sure to disguise her scent as soon as she got the idea to steal food. She was silent as she moved forward, eyes darting from the male to the food. She was determined to get a meal, even a meager one. As she neared the male, she noticed he was concentrating on something filled with a strange-smelling liquid. She didn't want anything to do with that, no, she wanted food.

Woodsmoke was painfully close to the food, and the male. She tried to be as quick and quiet as possible. All of her senses were trained on the man as she pushed forward with her head, trying to stay out of his sight as her teeth sunk into the hide that wrapped the meat. She bit down hard, and then bolted, carrying the meat and hide with her, spilling some but keeping most of the contents inside. She only gave one glance at the male as she ran away with her ill gotten meal.

Loners
Wolfdog

Scott

Gabe heard the sudden rush of a fleeing form and turned in time to see the animal rush away. No not an animal. Luperci. an animal would not have approached the flame so readily. He grabbed his bow and took off. Although perhaps slower than if he was in his four legged form, he was still swift, and he had been mapping out the area. Given his quarry's direction, and the urgency they showed in their flight, he angled his path to intercept.

As he gained, he watched the brief flashes of fur, the movement so quick it actually impressed him. Then he veered sharply, cutting in front of the fleeing Luperci, he could not let them go further. Not because they had his food, he didn't really care about that, but because he had traps set in the direction they fled, and they were set for bear.

"Stop! i wont hurt you, but you cannot go this way!"

Dremulf

He was taking chase, and Woodsmoke was certain she could outrun him. Keeping low and dodging large obstacles, the female ran with all her might away from the male. Every time her paws connected with the ground she pushed herself on, weaving through the brush and passed trees. Woodsmoke was fast, she could run like no other. The young female was used to running down prey, tiring them out and suffocating them with her powerful jaws. This, however, was a different case. Never before did she have someone chasing her, never before had she stolen food. If it was easy as outrunning someone, she'd consider doing it again.

And then, he was in front of her, and she stopped in her tracks. Woodsmoke's lips curled as she bared her teeth, the hide still held in her jaws as she protected her food. She stared wild-eyed directly into the male's own eyes. A loud snarl emanated from her throat, her hackles rose. She wanted him to know that this was her food now, and he would not be getting it back. She stepped back, not breaking eye contact, and not letting her tells show anything other than aggression, and then she bolted back towards the man's camp. He was not going to have her food.

Loners
Wolfdog

Scott

Winter was certainly on it's way, if it had not been for the colder weather settling in it were also the gradually decreasing pressence of the many prey animals that also would have otherwise be in great supply had dwindled now that the cold were settling in. A year ago Ares would not have been bothered so much but this particular issue but now that he were a loner things were different, but regardless of how tough life were bound to get it would just have to be dealt with no matter what.

This was what had originally brought Ares and his horse companion out this way, not to necersarily go on any form of hunting trip but more to scout out the area to see what were available to those like him that may come here. It had been here that the grey luperci male had takewn note of what looked to be like large traps like contraptions - but nothing like he had seen in the use of catching any large herbivores. But if note for those then what could they be for?

But he did not take the time to fully contemplate the use of these rather he were more interested in guiding the stallion and himself out and around the area in which held these traps, well better that than to significantly injure himself right?

It had been here that he had heard the commotion coming from a distance ahead before the sight of the pair some distance ahead of the other pair that gained Ares attention in turn forcing himself to come to a gradual stop. The temptation to simply turn and leave the pair to their business was strong - after all what business did he have in interfering with another attempting to claim back - in essence - his property from another who had clearly stolen it.

It had been during his brief moment of indecision that the male's choice had been made when the pair had come to a stop not too far from the wolf and horse pair. "I would listen to him if I were you, there are many traps that way. You would lose a leg before you got too far with that." Well it had not been hard to overheard the brief exchange and to some degree prepare himself for whatever would come next, after all given how aggressive the female were being anything could truly happen.

avatar by sunny

Ares will usually be in his Optime form and will often be seen wearing a clear quartz arrowhead necklace unless otherwise stated.

Mistfell Vale
Hawkesond

Gabriel cursed quietly as she ran. He glanced at this other stranger who had turned up.

"Dont hurt her, but with your horse, could you circle to the stream in the direction she is heading, if she crosses it she will enter another area with traps. I dont want her to get hurt. I'm not concerned about the food. I'll trade you if you help me. I have goods."

He didnt wait for answer, bolting after the female, his bow in hand, but not ready to be drawn. He managed to avoid the various natural dangers, roots, dips and small holes. He knew this area well enough by now. He caught up fairly quickly, dropping his bow in his camp as he passed. He spotted the female just ahead. If she crossed the stream, she would risk stepping into one of his snares, which could hurt her legs.

He decided the risk was worth taking and lunged at her, his intent not to do harm but to stop her from harming herself. He tried to grab her by the scruff, whether he succeeded or not, depended entirely on two things, if she saw him coming too soon, and if she didnt trip and fall before he reached her. If he missed, he hope fervently the other male had gotten ahead of her to block her path.

Dremulf

A sharp stab of fear struck Woodsmoke as she noticed the presence of the other male. Did he just show up, or did she not notice him? Either way she blamed herself for not spotting him. To make matters even worse he had a large riding animal with him. The creature was foreign to her, she knew it was prey, but she could never dream of taking a beast of that size down. The thought of all that meat was tantalizing though. Still, the female knew she had to get away from these two, and fast.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it. The man had gained on her and was reaching out to probably grab the food away. She was quick to let go of the impromptu bag and twisted her neck around, body soon following. She opened her jaws, letting out a snarl as she chomped down on the males hand. She was young, her teeth were not dulled by age, and metallic taste of blood hit her tongue as she thrashed her head. It was a welcome taste, her hungry stomach reveled with the possibility of a fresh meal. She let go, however, as he was not on the menu. Woodsmoke quickly tried to pick up the hide once more, only to find the meat spilling out. Fumbling slightly she got her jaws around the largest piece she could find and bolted away from the two. The female hoped the man had learned his lesson, but didn't count on it, as she sped away from them. She was determined to eat tonight, and was not going to stop for these two.

Loners
Wolfdog

Scott

Although the most important thing in which Ares had learnt during his extended time as a loner was that no matter the hard work an individual to hunt down some form of prey animal to stave off hunger or for some other purpose there was always the risk of - like in this situation - there being another who would so boldly steal the other's prize from under the nose of the one who had done the hard work. Under most other circumstances there would be little chance of him making any sort of effort to help out; it were just a part of life.

But given the fact that the pursuing male had called out to Ares firstly asking for his assistance and the reason for such a reaquest caused a certain amount of alarm for him. Firstly because he could not understand the reasoning behind why this guy would need to lay so many traps around - which he would come to understand it were probably so he could have plenty of tradeable items - and secondly realizing that is said traps were anything like those he had passed then there were certainly every chance of the other coming to some serious harm.

So with this in mind did Ares make no effort to waste time in climbing upon his stallion companion, rather going for the option of - as swiftly as he were capable of - shifting into his halfling form and with a sharp command charged after the female with the large horse in tow. Hopefully there were enough time to get between the female and her chosen route, thankfully it would seem that the few seconds that she took to turn upon her originally pursuer had been more than enough to allow Ares and his horse to move around ahead of the female before positioning himself right in the fmelae's path and facing hr.

No effort were made upon the halfling male's part to charge at the female and in effect wrestle away the meat from her, even if the other male in which she had stolen it from hadn't implored him to ignore that Ares wouldn't have made an effort to take it from her - not when it were so clear that she were in need of a meal.

Rather his nest actions were merely for intimidation purposes, lips curling back several seconds before a mildly aggressive snarl escaped from Ares as he keep olive eyes fixed upon the dark furred female, ensuring that regardless of which waythe female went he did his best to block her route.

avatar by sunny

Ares will usually be in his Optime form and will often be seen wearing a clear quartz arrowhead necklace unless otherwise stated.

Mistfell Vale
Hawkesond

Gabe flinched at the bite, feeling the teeth pierce his flesh. This one must have been very hungry to risk biting him like that. He didnt want to take the food back, in fact if he could catch her, he would gladly give her as much meat as she could carry. He just didnt want her to wander into one of his traps, most of which were designed to kill or injure large animals, so he could harvest their meat and fur, but some were designed to maim any would be thieves who tried to escape quickly from his camp.

As she ran he grunted and shifted his form to run on all fours. It was just faster. He was able to catch up, despite technically being three legged not four at the moment. He threw himself to block her possible retreat, shifting back to his two Optime form.

"Peace! If you simply calm down I will give you food! Please, i merely wish to prevent you from coming to harm!"

Physically, he knew he could take down the female, but the risk of injury was great, and he didn't have a pack to help him. She had already shown her willingness to inflict painful bites, so while he might be stronger, there was no way for him to subdue her without causing harm to her, and get out unscathed himself.